One of the ways to boost traffic to your Web site
is by purchasing keywords from one of the pay-per-click search engines or
directories.
And, just as important, what are some strategies
for working with the pay-per-click engines, and how do they operate?
How do Pay-Per-Click Engines Operate?
With pay-per-click engines, you bid on keywords
that describe your business, your products, or your target audience. Then,
you’re charged your bid price every time someone clicks on your ad, which is
displayed when a searcher types in the keyword you’ve chosen into the search box
at an engine. Whoever is willing to pay the most for the keyword or keyword
phrase will be at the top of the rankings.
There are many benefits to working with pay
engines, which we’ll cover in this article.
Important Pay-Per-Click Engines and
Directories
Overture:
http://www.overture.com
Overture is certainly the pay-per-click engine that
most people recognize. It’s also one of the most expensive and competitive.
However, the visibility of Overture is impressive,
to say the least. It provides the top two or three results to “big boy” search
engines and directories like Yahoo!, Lycos, HotBot, and MSN Search. In fact,
Overture claims to reach 80% of all Internet users.
Overture listings are generally found at the top of
the regular search results in an area called “Sponsored” results or sites.
Overture’s pay-per-clicks operate under one
premise: whoever has the deepest pockets and is willing to pay the most gets on
top.
The minimum bid is $.10, and there’s a minimum
charge of $20 per month. A $50 initial deposit is non-refundable and will be
applied to click throughs or to the minimum monthly spend. When your account is
depleted, they’ll contact you to see if you want to add additional funds to your
budget.
Google AdWords
http://www.google.com/ads/
Google AdWords have fast become extremely important
in the pay-per-click arena, with results being shown at search engines like
Google, AOL Search, Ask Jeeves, and Teoma.
Google AdWords operates differently than Overture
in a number of ways. Your click-through rate and cost per click together
determine where your ads are shown, so better ads rise to the top. That means no
one can lock you out of the top position.
Google AdWords are shown on the right-hand side of
regular search results in a pink shaded area called “Sponsored Links.”
Because your click through rate has an influence on
the placement of your AdWords ad, your ad’s title and description must be
captivating and designed to pull in traffic.
With Google AdWords, there’s a $5 activation fee,
and the minimum bid amount is $.05. You decide on the maximum cost per click
that you’re willing to pay and set your daily budget. You don’t have to spend a
certain amount per month, and you only pay for clicks you actually receive.
FindWhat
http://www.findwhat.com
Another popular pay-per-click engine that is
generally much less expensive than Overture is FindWhat.
With FindWhat, whoever bids the most gets on top.
The minimum bid is $.05, and they require a $25 minimum amount to open an
account.
FindWhat provides results to 200 different
partners, including many of the big meta engines like Dogpile.
Lycos InSite AdBuyer
http://insite.lycos.com/searchservices/adbuyer/overview.asp
A fairly new pay-per-click program that’s displayed
on both Lycos and HotBot is Lycos InSite AdBuyer.
Again, it operates similarly to the way that
Overture and FindWhat operate, with the top results being those who bid the most
for their target keywords.
The minimum bid is $.05 with a $50 minimum to open
an account.
LookSmart
http://www.looksmart.com
LookSmart is a pay-per-click directory where you
pay a flat $.l5 per click through. It claims to reach 77% of the Internet users
through the partners that display LookSmart results.
Some of those partners include MSN Search,
About.com, Netscape, and AltaVista.
With LookSmart, you don’t bid for listings.
Everyone pays a flat $.15 per click through, and your ranking is determined by
how relevant your site is to the search term, according to LookSmart’s ranking
criteria. To get started with a LookSmart listing, the initial investment is
$29.
Other Pay-Per-Click Engines
http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com/
This comprehensive site lists over 500 different
pay-per-click search engines and offers individual reviews on many of them.
Advantages to Working with the Pay Engines
The pay engines offer many advantages to Web site
owners, including:
1. If you have a brand new site with little or no
visibility and no link popularity, the pay engines are certainly a way to get
started fast while you wait for your standard search engine marketing efforts to
kick in and take effect.
2. Pay-per-click engines are ideal for holiday
promotions, special sales, or to jump start slow engine traffic.
3. With the pay engines, you have instant
visibility in whichever search engines display those results.
4. You choose your rankings, depending on how deep
your pocket book is.
5. If some of your keywords aren't performing, you
can choose other ones.
6. You only pay for clicks to your site, so you can
target your traffic by the keywords you choose.
7. With regular optimization efforts, it's
sometimes difficult to achieve top rankings if you're in a highly competitive
field. With the pay engines, you pay for your rankings, and VOILA! You're there!
8. Purchasing keywords is certainly easier and less
time consuming than optimizing your pages.
9. With regular engines, when algorithms (or
ranking criteria) change, you can find yourself booted out of your top spot.
With the pay engines, as long as you're willing to hand out the cash, you'll be
on top.
10.You can target your audience based on the
keywords you choose. Most Web sites have multiple target audiences, so
pay-per-click keywords are a way to reach each of those target audiences.
11.Pay-per-click is generally less expensive than
traditional advertising media.
12.With pay-per-click engines, you don't have to
worry about design strategies that could mean death to a Web site otherwise. Is
your entire site one huge Flash movie? No problem, if you go through the pay
engines.
Tips for Boosting Your Chances for Success
with the Pay Engines
When working with the pay engines, it takes
practice to achieve a level of success. So, start out slowly, and keep a tight
rein on your budget. As you become better at crafting titles and descriptions
and choosing highly targeted keywords, you’ll gradually be able to increase your
budget, if you choose.
Here are some additional tips:
1. It's not always best to be #1. Many compulsive
"clickers" automatically click on the #1 result when they have no real interest
in buying your products or services.
2. Be sure to include your keyword phrase in the
title and description you create at the pay engines. Take special care in
creating a description for your site, since within the top three slots, the best
description gets the most traffic, as a general rule.
3.Your keywords must be relevant to the content of
your pages. Overture is particularly careful about this.
4. Choose very targeted keywords so that you don't
pay for needless click throughs. Don’t ever choose a general keyword, because
your costs will skyrocket but the traffic won’t convert to sales.
5. Spend time researching your keyword choices at
Overture's Search Term Suggestion Tool
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion
or my favorite, WordTracker:
http://www.wordtracker.com/moreinfo.html
6. Generally, you'll have more success if you
purchase 10- 20 keywords as opposed to just a few.
7. Choose a broad range of keywords and bid prices
and test the waters. Watch your keywords carefully. Non-productive keywords
should be eliminated and new, more productive keywords should be purchased
instead.
8. For Overture, consider purchasing a "Premium
Listing," which means that you hold the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd ranking for your
keyword phrase. Why? Because engines like AltaVista and Lycos show the first
listings only.
9. Set up a separate "tracking" page to send your
pay engine traffic. In order to show whether or not the cost is worth it, you
need to be able to track your click throughs and sales. Don't send pay engine
traffic to your home page.
10.Write your title and description using
“objective” language rather than “subjective.” In other words, don’t say that
your product or service is the best or #1 (subjective). Rather, list some of the
benefits of your service that make it unique (objective).
In Conclusion
You’ll find many benefits to purchasing keywords
through pay-per-click engines, but you need to learn some basic guidelines
before you get started. By doing so, you’ll hopefully find more successful when
working with the pay engines.
Copyright 2005 Robin Nobles. All
rights reserved.
This work is licensed
under a Creative Commons License.But with literally
hundreds of choices, how do you pick the pay-per-click
engine with the best visibility that has the potential
of giving you a higher return on your investment?
